


The Evanescent Paracosm - Short Stories

by ShadeWood45



Category: Half Life VR but the AIs are self aware, Original Work
Genre: Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, Mental Breakdown
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-09
Updated: 2020-10-09
Packaged: 2021-03-08 00:13:51
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,442
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26906431
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShadeWood45/pseuds/ShadeWood45
Summary: Short pieces of stories written for a self-indulgent au, because it's 2020 and the world's ending anyway.
Kudos: 3





	The Evanescent Paracosm - Short Stories

The odd group from a similar world had grown on them and their friends. Sure some of the members of the other group were very similar to members of their own friend group, but there were differences. A great example of their differences were moments like right now. Benrey was somewhat lacking in the concept of boundaries and how far you could actually push some before they snapped. Shade was standing at the edge of their boundaries and seconds away from diving full focus away from them with the way that Benrey was pushing them at the moment. He was not a bad person, he was just very good at pushing people over their mentally edges because he had a hard time seeing them for himself. He’s been pushing at Shade’s own limits for three hours now, and Shade’s been trying very hard to keep from plunging off the edge. Benrey mades it very hard sometimes to not do just that however.

Benrey was talking about......something at the moment. In all honestly Shade had stopped being able to understand anything word-wise for the past 30 minutes, having dumped their focus into something else. The last thing they remember actually hearing from Benrey and understanding what was being said was something about some new game Gordon had bought for their own group to try and play together. He probably was still talking about the new game, and a part of Shade whispered about what a shame it was that Shade had stopped listening because some of the game bits had actually sounded interesting. There’s a change in his monotone, a shift in the content he’s rambling about that Shade notices and starts pulling their attention back in all the _wrong_ ways.

Then there’s a slight feeling in the air that Shade knows, and knows is a part of Benrey that he can’t change, and then there’s that bright, glowing, burning, _neon_ of the _Sweet Voice_ lose in the air and Shade just hones into it as it appears. There’s a solid 45 seconds of it free floating in the air before anything happens. Even with Shade’s tunneling vision into the burning _luminous_ of the orb in the air, Shade can still _see_ the way Benrey’s carefree stature changes in an instant and becomes tense at seeing the _sphere_ hanging in the air. They can _see_ the way he opens his mouth again to say something about _it_ , and probably apologize about letting _it_ slip in the first place, and they can _see_ the way he tries reaching out an arm to get the _ball_ before it becomes a problem.

Unfortunately for Benrey, Shade is faster. And no part of Shade is merciful in this moment. Shade can _tell_ that their control has snapped and there’s no thought about the future in their next actions. There is nothing within them that care for that now though. Before Benrey’s arm even makes it half of the way to the _sphere_ of _Sweet Voice_ floating away from him, Shade with their focus honed onto the _ball_ , has already reached out and squished it’s colourful, bright, _burning existence_ into their hand. The orb _sears_ into their shadowed flesh, and they can almost hear Benrey’s noise of alarm that’s producing more of those _colourful, burning, emotional shells_ into the surrounding air. A part of them can feel Benrey’s panic at their burning hands that holds the crushed remains of that _vibrant ball_ as it almost smokes around the edges that the goop has touched on their flesh; can feel his panic at the other _multicoloured spheres_ he’d let out in response.

That part of them however is mostly ignored by the part of them that lunges out for the other _misplaced, balls of compacted emotions_. Their hands close around _another_ , and _another_ , and _another_ , before Benrey has some sense to grab one of their wrists while almost stuffing his other hand into his mouth to cease the endless production of those _neon orbs_. Shade’s hands and arms _burns_ in a way that they’ve experienced so few times but know all too well. There are still two drifting away and up to the ceiling at this point, and this feral part of Shade wants, needs to reach and _crush_ those as well. Benrey has moved his hand around his mouth so that he might speak more freely while still choking bad that _multicoloured paste_ building in the back of his throat. A part of Shade can somewhat understand him now that the focus has shifted off trying not to snap. The rest of Shade however, does not care for the words he is trying to focus out when those _bright sunspots_ still sit in the air above them. Shade wants to lunge for them again, but Benrey still holds their wrist in his hands. Shade knows it would be so easy to escape his grasp, after all he has his attention on something else. But then out of the corner of their eye, Shade notices the _colours_ running off Benrey’s hand at his mouth and down his chin as he tries not to choke and speak at the same time. Shade’s eyes lock onto thembefore all else. The ones dripping off his face were this _pale white_ , almost _ashen_ that was nearly see through. In the back of their head with the rest of their mental processes sat the meaning behind the colour, untouched; _fear, panic, concern_. Then- there. Movement in the corner of their eyes from the escaped _kaleidoscopic orbs_. They were trying to _disappear_ , and that was _not allowed_.

Shade tried to reach for the fleeing _spheres_ , but Benrey’s grip tightened and this time Shade heard the noise he made; like someone punched the air right out of him. Shade stared down the _psychedelic marbles_ escaping their reach before turning back to glance at Benrey once more. Something in the back of their mind could see that something was wrong; Benrey looked far worse than if someone had actually punched the air out of his lungs, but they weren’t really sure why. That something in the back of their mind was growing, and approaching the front, as it began to question what _was_ wrong with Benrey. Could they _fix_ it? What had happened when they _weren’t looking_? They tried to focus their eyes on his to trying and see if he would say what the problem was, but eye contact had never been their thing and he had never cared all too much for it. They tried moving a step closer, but he took a step back while still holding his hand to his mouth. 

It was several more minutes before anything else happened besides Benrey’s glances to the ceiling to look at something that Shade couldn’t remember being there. After some time had passed and he’d finally stopped looking up over their heads, he slowly let go of their wrist while making a motion for them to stay put. Shade waited, confused. But they were still focused on something they weren’t seeing anymore, when Benrey finally returned with a rag and towel. The rag had already seen some use from Benrey while returning, while the towel remained untouched. As Shade tried to puzzle out what had given the rag use from Benrey while the towel was still unused, Benrey quickly answered some of their mental questions by taking the towel and brushing their arms with it.

Shade wasn’t aware they needed the towel for anything? But when they looked down at their arms all they could is the is _psychedelic colours_ that plaster their arms as the shadows compete for the same spaces, when the towel drags through it all breaking the thought process and leaving this marred flesh before the shadows rushed quickly in to fill the gaps. Slowly their mind pieces itself back together enough to realize that Benrey is trying to remove every drop of those _neon splatters_ off of them with the towel but is having trouble with his shaking hands. Shade finally reaches out and grabs a corner of the towel and tries to help remove as much of the Sweet Voice as they can. Benrey freezes when they grab the towel at first before slowly returning back to the task. When just about every coloured light that was painted onto Shade’s skin is gone and the shadows have taken their proper places over the resulting wounds, the two stand in silence for some time. The rag and towel sit in the silence with them, drying with their new neon colours that are sure to stain the poor fabrics.

**Author's Note:**

> Murder Cringe Culture, it's 2020 and we're not living much longer.


End file.
